So, I wanted to share with you guys a short summary of the play I’m writing for my new byler fic (the one where Will accidentally becomes a theatre kid) Mild spoilers ig!
Mid-1800s Europe. Francesca, a noblewoman, grows up inseparable from Paul, the servant boy in her manor; always too close, always almost something neither of them dares to name. When Francesca comes of age, her family arranges her marriage to a nobleman, Elliot. Loving Paul openly would mean scandal and ruin for Francesca, so she stays silent about her true love and chooses duty. Paul eventually leaves the manor. Years later, Francesca - married, wealthy, and trapped with someone she doesn’t love - meets Paul again in public and discovers he’s climbed the social ladder, built a name and fortune of his own, and is now a respected, selfmade gentleman. Their reunion brings back everything they buried and eventually stolen conversations become secret meetings, and desire becomes inevitable. Francesca finally confesses: she’s loved him since they were children, and she begs him to run away with her. But Paul refuses; it’s too late. He’s already promised to another woman, and he won’t destroy the future he fought for someone who wouldn’t risk hers when it mattered.
Main cast/characters for now
Francesca Archer (played by Gabriella M. / rehearsed with Will by Mike)
Paul Wellington (originally played by Troy B., now played by Will)
Elliot Ives
A little peek inside my crazy brain:
Francesca and Paul’s names are a little reference to Dante’s Inferno: Paolo and Francesca, the lovers damned for adultery, who first kiss while reading about Guinevere and Lancelot. Basically the book was their cupid's arrow, and I loved the parallel: in my fic, the play becomes that same kind of catalyst for Mike and Will. It mirrors them just enough to force them to face things (Mike = Francesca, the one who can’t admit what he feels; Will = Paul, the one who can’t wait forever). Which means Mike "helps" by playing the female part, but yes, the wig thing is still happening, don’t worry <3
Elliot Ives was my funny way to hint about Eleven
Gabriella M. and Troy B. are other actors, obv the name were taken by HSM because of the famous parallel between the ring o mania argument and their scene lol
More things that inspired me: The age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; Persuasion by Jane Austen; The sorrows of young Werther by Goethe; The last letters of Jacopo Ortis by Ugo Foscolo (I’m studying some of these for uni… sorry, my tragic ass couldn’t avoid getting inspired) and inevitably Romeo and Juliet too (This was supposed to be the play, but I needed specific lines so I ended up creating a new one, I'm just helpless)
Of course I'm always overdoing things, at first I just wanted to make a lil lawless fic but here I am and I don't know if I will ever need ALL of this but idk that was fun, bye
Let me know what you think!
